He started his journalism career in 1992 as a freelance writer for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily national newspaper and soon specialised in air transport. Jens joined Aviation Week and Aviation Daily in 2000 as one of the European correspondents. Later his role was expanded to cover international air transport. In 2013 he was named Managing Editor Commercial.
Jens frequently appears on radio and TV to comment on industry matters. In 2003, he received the Hugo Junkers Award of the German aviation press for his coverage of Fairchild Dornier’s bankruptcy. He was named the country’s top travel and air transport writer by the Travel Industry Club three times. Jens graduated from the Munich School of Journalism.
Leithen Francis (Singapore), Jens Flottau (Singapore), Adrian Schofield (Singapore)
Airlines around the world are looking to the Asia-Pacific region, and China and India in particular, to fuel their growth, but there is a danger Middle East carriers may soak up much of the traffic originating in Asia-Pacific. Besides the competitive threat from the Middle East, rising fuel prices and regional disasters have dramatically reduced the global airline industry's margins, putting the industry as a whole in a precarious position from which it will be difficult to turn a profit if economic growth slows or there is another shock to the system.
Leithen Francis (Singapore), Adrian Schofield (Singapore), Jens Flottau (Singapore)
The giants of the aircraft leasing business have traditionally shunned aircraft with fewer than 100 seats, but the market will shift in the coming months as the giants change direction. BOC Aviation, CIT Aerospace, GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) and International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) are looking to break with convention and place orders for smaller aircraft.
Jens Flottau (Singapore), Leithen Francis (Singapore), Guy Norris (Los Angeles)
Airbus and Rolls-Royce, addressing customers' concerns about performance of the Trent XWB engine, are working on a potential thrust-margin increase of roughly 5,000 lb. that is needed for the A350-1000. The measures involve a substantial design change that could force the planned service-entry target for the larger model to slide one year to at least 2016. The plans come as key customers such as Air Lease Corp. (ALC) and Emirates have publicly voiced doubts that the engine as now defined may not be powerful enough.
